I appreciate the clear explanation, Robert. I've been wondering for a while about "viharemu" when I chant the Mora Paritta, buy never got to find out. So, thank you.

At 11:20 AM 04-10-02, Robert Eddison wrote:

>By the way, if anyone is wondering why the verb is in the plural when only
>one person is speaking, this is a Pali convention used sometimes when
>the speaker is someone of importance like a Buddha, a king, or (in the
>Jaatakas) the chief of some group of animals. I suppose it's something
>like the 'royal we' in English.

I've been taking note of this as well: the "royal we" pattern.

Besides that, there's also the changing of singular to plural when addressing someone more important/senior out of respect, such as when a monk accepts a confession from a more senior monk. "Passatha, bhante, ta.m aapatti.m?" (The senior monk does not reply with "Aama, avuso, passaama." though.)

Then there's also the use the third person when addressing the person one is speaking to (second person). I found many instances of this in the Paatimokkha.

peace

Ven Kumâra